Hand-operated portable traffic signal light



June 19, 1956 D. H. WALTMAN 2,751,581

/ HAND-OPERATED PORTABLE TRAFFIC SIGNAL LIGHT Filed June 22, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 18 FIG I Q /6l INVENTOR DALLAS H.WALTMAN /63 Y K 62 m5 B M ATTORNEY HAND-OPERATED PORTABLE TRAFFIC SIGNAL LIGHT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 22, 1953 DALLAS H. WALTM ATTORNEY June 19, 1956 H. WALTMAN 2,

HANDOPERATED PORTABLE TRAFFIC SIGNAL LIGHT Filed June 22, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 'INVENTOR DALLAS H.WALTMAN ATTORNEY United States Patent Oflice 2,751,581 HAND-OPERATED PORTABLE TRAFFIC SIGNAL LIGHT Dallas H. Waltman, Alexandria, Va. Application June 22, 1953, Serial No. 363,421 2 Claims. (Cl. 340-321) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon in accordance with the provisions of the act of April 30, 1928 (Ch. 460, 45 Stat. L. 467).

This invention relates to a signaling device, and, more particularly, to a hand-operated gun-type portable signal light for transmitting a steady or interrupted beam of a selected color, such as red, green, or white, or of alternating colors toward a distant object. Devices of this sort may be used to transmit signals to air or ground traffic in the vicinity of an airport in order to control the traffic by visual means, or it may be used as a means of sending visual signals from ships to shore, shore to ship, ship to ship, ship to plane, or from plane to ship where other means are not available or suitable. Previous signal lights for this purpose have been large, heavy, and hard to operate, and have had the undesirable feature of flashing a white light when changing alternately from one color to another, as from a red to a green signal.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide an improved signal light of the type described which is simple in construction, light in weight, easy to handle, and capable of quick and accurate operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved color-lens changing mechanism in a signaling device whereby undesirable white flashes between alternating color flashes are eliminated.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved arrangement of hand or finger operated controls for selectively operating the mechanism of a gun-type signaling device.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved combination of color lens selector control mechanism with color lens changing mechanism whereby the color lenses of a signaling device may be accurately and rapidly changed.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective elevational view of the signaling device of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the device of Fig. 1, partially broken away for the purpose of clarity of illustration.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an isometric projection, partially broken away, showing the color selector mechanism and change mechanism of the signal device of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail view of the color lens assembly taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3 showing the normal position of the assembly prior to operation of the control mechanism and showing one of the color lenses in the optical path.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the position of the color lenses when the control mechanism is actuated and the assembly is rotated to impose a lens of another color in the optical path.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 showing the position of the color lens assembly when the control mechanism is further actuated to rotate both color lenses out of the optical path whereby a white light is transmitted.

Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view of the trigger selector and control mechanism of the signaling device taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 9 is a wiring diagram for the signaling device.

Referring now to the drawings in detail for a better understanding of the signal device of this invention and in particular to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 thereof, the device is shown as comprising a main housing 10 having a bottom housing 11 attached thereto, as by means of screws 12, to which a pistol type grip 13 is attached by means of bolts 14. The housing 10 is provided with a hanger 15 having a keyhole slot 16 which engages bolts 17, and having eye-bolt means 18 by which it may be suspended. It will be understood that the hanger is optional and is used primarily in securing the device when it is not in use, the device being quite capable of support and operation by one hand of the operator.

The housing 10 contains the optical system of signal gun which comprises a principal reflector 19, an auxiliary reflector 20, a lamp 21, color lenses 22 and 23, a cover glass or window 24. The principal reflector 19, which may be a paraboloid of revolution, is mounted in the rear of the housing by means of mounting ring 25, pads 26, and mounting brackets 27. The auxiliary reflector 20, which may be of spherical configuration, is adjustably mounted by means of stud bolt 28 and holder 29 which is adjustably secured to mounting bracket 30 by means of slot 31 and bolt 32. The mounting bracket 30 is bolted to plate 31a which in turn is secured to the side of the housing 10. The lamp 21 is also adjustably mounted on bracket 30 by means of holder 32a adjustably secured within slot 33 by means of bolt 34. The lamp 21 and auxiliary reflector 20 are covered by a hood 35, mounted upon the stud 28 as shown, so as to prevent scattered reflections, as of light from the wall of the housing. The lamp 21 has a socket 36 and is electrically connected by means of lead wires 37 and 38 through micro-switch 39 in the pistol grip 13 and connecting terminal 40 in bottom housing 11 to cable 40a which leads to a suitable source of power.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a retaining ring 41 in the housing 10 carries a color indicator 41a which may comprise an optical prism of Lucite or other material and by means of which the operator may observe the color of the signal he is flashing. This indicator should be so positioned and of such quality that an operator of normal vision may in bright daylight distinguish the color of lenses in use by simply observing the color of the indicator as he operates the signal controls.

The lens changing and control mechanism is mounted in the bottom housing 11 so that it can be removed conveniently as a complete assembly, the details of which are shown in Fig. 4. The color lenses 22 and 23, which are usually red and green in color in accordance with signal systems now in use, are located side by side in a frame 42. The center portion of this frame lying between the two lenses is opaque so that there can be no passage of light as the lens assembly is rotated through the optical path between the lamp 21 and the principal reflector 19. The frame 42 is fastened to a short rotatable shaft 43 on one end'of which is mounted a spur gear 44 which engages the teeth of a short sector gear 45. The arm of this gear is adapted, to rotate around a pin 46 attached to bracket 47. This arm is maintained under the tension of spring 48 so that the sector gear 45 is normally at one end of its limit of travel. Brackets 47 and 47a support the shaft 43 for rotation as shown. The sector gear 45 is operated by means of a flexible cable 49 which runs over pulleys 50 and 51 to an eccentric 52 operated by trigger 53. Accordingly, assuming the normal position of the lens assembly corresponding to the position in which spring 48 has retracted the sector gear to its limit to be that in which the red lens 22 is interposed in the optical path, the color of the signal may be changed from red to green by pulling back with the first finger on the trigger 53 thereby transmitting motion via the flexible cable 49 to the sector gear 45 thereby rotating spur gear 44 and shaft 43 and rotating the lens assembly until the green lens is now interposed in the optical path. It will be understood that the distance through which the spur gear may be rotated is controlled by the degree of movement of trigger 53.

The normal forward position of the trigger 53 may be adjusted by means of adjusting screw 54 so that the optical center of the red lens lies on the optical axis of the system. In this position the lens assembly would be located as shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5. Spring 48 normally holds the lens assembly in this position. When the trigger 53 is pulled backwards, it engages a stop 55. In this position the lens assembly has been rotated so that the optical center of the green lens now lies on the optical axis of the system as shown in Fig. 6. Stop 55 is pivotally secured at one side of the handle 13 by means of pin 56 whereby it may be removed from the path of the trigger 53 by pressing the rearward extension 57 with the thumb. A clip spring 58, shown in Fig. 8, normally holds the stop 55 in position to engage the trigger 53. When the stop 55 is retracted by the thumb against the spring pressure to the position shown in the broken lines in Fig. 8, the trigger 53 may be pulled back until it engages the rear face of slot 59. In this position the lens assembly is rotated to the extent that neither of the lenses is in the optical path. Fig. 7 shows the lens assembly in such position.

A push button 60 is conveniently located in the forward portion of pistol grip 13 and is operable to close the micro-switch 39 which is normally held open by a spring 61 as shown in the circuit diagram of Fig. 9. Operation of'the push button 60 completes the circuit from lamp 21 through leads 37 and 38, switch 39, and jack-plugs 62, to the secondary winding of transformer 63, the primary of which is connected to a suitable power source not shown.

A suitable peep sight 10. The center line of 64 is mounted on top of housing this sight is parallel to the optical axis of the transmitted light beam and the rear sight 65 is so adjusted that the angle of vision through the sights has the same divergence as the beam of light so that anything within the scope of peep sight will be within the scope of the beam.

In the operation of the signaling device, it is trained upon the object to be signaled and the proper color signal is flashed by correlating the movement of trigger 53, stop 55, and push button 60. If a red light is desired, it is merely necessary to press switch button 60 with the fingers holding the pistol grip. If a green light is desired, trigger 53 is also pulled, the stop 55 preventing movement past the green lens. If a white light is desired, stop 55 is retracted by pressing the thumb on extension 57, pulling the trigger 53 all the way back with the forefinger, and pressing the switch button 60 with the other fingers. Upon release of the trigger after a white flash, the stop 55 snaps back into position thereby preventing accidental flash of a white light in further signaling. The three controls are so located as to be easily operated by the thumb and fingers of one hand while it is at the same time holding and pointing the light. For flashing an alternating red and green light, the trigger 53 is pulled backwards and then released while at the same time the fingers press push button 60. Since the only repeated movement is that of the trigger finger, the alternating flash may be accomplished with great rapidity. There will be no white flash between these alternating green and red flashes because of the solid center section between these two lenses.

It may readily be seen that this new type of signal light may be quickly and accurately operated with no possibility of accidently flashing a white light between red and green signals. The white light on the other hand may be made visible when required. Many modifications of the device will occur to those skilled in the art and are considered to be within the spirit and scope of this invention. For example, a gear train may be substituted for the cable and pulleys, a telescopic sight may be substituted for the peep sights, and lenses of other colors and members may be substituted for the red and green lenses disclosed. The device may be made to operate from batteries as well as from a permanent source of power.

It will be appreciated from a reading of the foregoing specification that the invention herein described is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

l. A signal lamp comprising a housing provided with a window at one end for the transmission of light, a principal reflector in the rear of the housing facing the window, an auxiliary reflector of smaller diameter than the principal reflector spaced from and facing the principal reflector, a light emitting source positioned between the reflectors, a tubular opaque shield encircling the auxiliary reflector and said source of light to confine the rays of light reflected from the auxiliary reflector to a narrow path leading to the principal reflector, a screen carrying successively color lenses spaced by an opaque wall, each color lens being substantially of the same diameter as said narrow path, means for mounting the screen for bodily movement at right angles across said narrow path whereby the colors can be successively flashed from the principal reflector spaced by darkness as the opaque wall crosses the narrow path, and means for actuating the screen in said movement.

2. A signal lamp comprising a housing provided with a window at one end for the transmission of light, a principal reflector in the rear of the housing facing the window, an auxiliary reflector of smaller diameter through the principal reflector spaced from and facing the principal reflector, a light emitting source positioned between the reflectors, a tubular opaque shield encircling the auxiliary reflector and said source of light to confine the rays of light reflected from the auxiliary reflector to a narrow path leading to the principal reflector, a screen carrying successively color lenses spaced by an opaque wall, each color lens being substantially of the same diameter as said narrow path, means for mounting the screen for bodily movement at right angles across said narrow path whereby the colors can be successively flashed from the principal reflector spaced by darkness as the opaque wall crosses the narrow path, a single handle grip member secured to the housing, means for yieldably forcing the screen to one end of its path so that one lens is in said narrow path to color the light, a finger trigger in the grip member operatively connected to actuate the screen, a stop in the path of the trigger whereby when the trigger is pulled to a position engaging the stop the other color lens is disposed in said narrow path of light to transmit the other color, and means for removing the stop whereby further movement of the finger trigger removes the screen from said narrow path whereby uncolored light is transmitted to the principal reflector.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,545,166 ONeil July 7, 1925 1,600,067 Retz Sept. 14, 1926 1,647,896 West Nov. 1, 1927 2,017,849 Blee Oct. 22, 1935 2,361,480 Joflo Oct. 31, 1944 2,442,506 Morris June 1, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 269,802 Great Britain Apr. 28, 1927 

